News

Binayak Raj Pandey, a third-year PhD student in Microbiology, got a fully funded travel award to present his research at the 2026 EPSCoR Annual Summit.

Have you ever wondered what concentration of molybdenum (Mo) limits nitrogen fixation? Zak Stevenson (Microbiology PhD ’24) studied Deming Lake, where Mo was barely detectable, and surprisingly, nitrogen fixation was not Mo-limited.

Congratulations to Puja Bajracharya, a PhD student in Dr.

Dr. Gwyn Beattie’s Lab published three new papers in 2025 spanning soil microbiome strategies for environmental benefits and new insights into the biology and epidemiology of bacteria linked to cucurbit yellow vine disease.

Dr. Dylan Schultz successfully defended his thesis on 11/21/25 titled, " Genotypic and phenotypic exploration of Cardinium hertigii-induced reproductive manipulation of Encarsia parasitoid wasps".

Congratulations to Binayak Raj Pandey, a third-year Microbiology PhD student in Dr.

Mellata’s team recently published an article titled "Host Genetics Regulate Bacterial Plasmid Conjugation Differentially in Avian Ceca Explant Co-Culture Through Secretory miRNA" in the Nature Portfolio journal (npj) - Antimicrobi

Zachary Burton recently published an article titled "Corrosion inhibition of an aluminum alloy by environmentally derived microbial biofilms" in Frontiers in Microbiomes.

Jessica Strathman recently published an article titled "Transcriptome Sequencing Reveals Distinct Stress Response of Listeria monocytogenes 6179 During Logarithmic and Stationary Growth Phases" in Microbiology Open. 

Dylan Schultz recently published an article which assembled and compared the genomes of different strains of the endosymbiotic bacteria Cardinium.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this year’s Interdepartmental Microbiology Fall Welcome Picnic! It was great to reconnect, meet new members of the community, and enjoy an evening of good food and our bocce ball competition!

We are proud to recognize Umar Shahid, a PhD candidate in Interdepartmental Microbiology program, for receiving the Veterinary Medicine Biomedical Research Graduate Scholarship.

The Interdepartmental Microbiology Program is excited to welcome this year’s incoming cohort of graduate students! Coming from diverse backgrounds, they share a common passion for exploring the microbial world.

Recently published in FEMS Microbiology Reviews, this review sheds light on Candidatus Cardinium hertigii (Cardinium), an obligate intracellular endosymbiont found in a diverse array of invertebrates. 

Dr. Hannah Watkins successfully defended her thesis on 7/14/25 titled, "Resistant potato starch metabolism in swine: Gut microbial trophic cascades from primary degraders to butyrate producers."

Congratulations, Dr. Watkins!! 

Dr. Jared Meinen-Jochum successfully defended his thesis on 6/13/25 titled, "Usage of segmented filamentous bacteria as a prophylactic to improve gut immune maturation in chickens."

Congratulations, Dr. Meinen-Jochum!! 

Dr. Sarah DeWolf successfully defended her thesis on 3/28/25 titled, "Investigating the role of genetic variation in the emergence of new phenotypes in an Escherichia coli pathobiont."

Congratulations, Dr. DeWolf! :)

Zackry Stevenson (MICRO PhD ’24) recently published a paper describing a field study that took place right on the ISU campus.

My collaborators and I are thrilled to announce that our manuscript titled: "Effect of rabbit gastrointestinal stasis (RGIS) on the fecal microbiota of pet rabbits" has been published in PLOS One!